One of the Most Powerful Tools I Bring? The Question.

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”  Eugène Ionesco

Across a career spanning insights, marketing, new product development, advisory work, and internal transformation, I’ve come to realize one truth: one of the most powerful tools I bring to any room isn’t the answer—it’s the question.

Not just a smart or strategic question, but the kind that cuts through complexity, pauses a conversation, reframes a problem, and makes people rethink what they thought they knew.

Whether I’m working with a brand in search of its identity, a leader stuck in decision fatigue, or a marketing team wrestling with executional overload. Real movement rarely begins with a solution. It begins with a sharper lens. And that starts with the right question.

Whether at agencies like J. Walter Thompson, Saatchi & Saatchi, Horizon Media, or on the client side with Pepsi and Diageo, I’ve seen firsthand how innovation doesn’t begin with certainty. It begins with better questions—the kind that help people get unstuck.

Questions like:

▪ What if you're in a different business than you think you are?

▪ What if the problem you're solving isn't the real one?

▪ What happens if you do nothing?

▪ What else might be true?

These aren’t theoretical. They’re practical shifts in perspective. Because in a world overwhelmed by data, feedback loops, and well- worn frameworks, the most valuable thing you can bring is the ability to see differently. And help others do the same.

That principle was at the heart of LIMITLESS, the leadership platform I co-founded at Horizon Media. It wasn’t born from a formal brief or a top-down initiative. It came from an unasked question: Why don’t we have systems to support the next generation of female leaders? That gap was telling. So we built something to fill it.

LIMITLESS helped women reclaim their voice, step into their power, and lead with intention. For many, it sparked a deeper shift—one that began with the courage to ask better questions about what kind of leader they wanted to become.

And it’s the same principle that drives my work today at Get UnStuck HQ. Whether I’m coaching someone through a career pivot, helping a team untangle a strategic challenge, or guiding a brand through repositioning, the shift always begins with the same thing: a question that opens up space to think differently.

The power of a well-crafted question is backed by research.

Hal Gregersen, Executive Director of the MIT Leadership Center, has shown that the most innovative leaders aren’t just good at solving problems—they’re great at asking catalytic questions that disrupt assumptions and unlock forward motion.

Warren Berger, in A More Beautiful Question, outlines how asking “Why? What if? How?” helps teams think more creatively and act more decisively.

With the rise of AI, I sometimes wonder if the art of asking the unasked, or the uncomfortable, question is being overshadowed. After all, AI can analyze data, detect patterns, and even draft your next pitch deck. But what it can’t do—at least not with insight or intent—is decide which questions are worth asking in the first place.

That’s still human work. And I’d argue it’s more critical than ever.

Use AI to begin exploring the unimaginable. But be the one who asks the inspired questions, and directs where it goes. Let the machine show you the start of what’s possible, but let you define what matters. Use that output as the jumping-off point for a handful of sharp, curious humans.

Because the human brain—especially when connected to other human brains—is still better at spotting the unexpected, the emotional, and the truly original.

Whether you’re repositioning a brand, leading a team through change, or navigating your own next chapter, getting unstuck rarely comes from having all the answers. It comes from asking the one question no one else has thought to ask.

Frameworks, instinct, and synthesis are all critical. But what creates the shift? A well-timed, well-aimed question.

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Gregersen, H. (2018). Asking the questions that unlock innovation. MIT Sloan School of Management. https://news.mit.edu/2018/mit-leadership-center-hal-gregersen-asking-questions-that-unlock- innovation-0406

Berger, W. (2018). How Asking Powerful Questions Can Lead to Strategic Outcomes. Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University.  https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/leadreadtoday/blog/how-asking-powerful-questions-can-lead-to-strategic-  outcomes